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VA Breaks Ground at New Michigan Cemetery

VA Breaks Ground at New Michigan Cemetery
WASHINGTON (October 14, 2004) -- Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Anthony J. Principi today presided over the groundbreaking ceremony for the
new Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly, Mich.

"This landmark event signifies the beginning of a new era of service
to meet the burial needs of veterans in southeastern Michigan," said
Principi. "Soon, veterans and their dependents in the Detroit area and
beyond will have a national cemetery that reflects the honor their sacrifice
justly deserves."

National, state and local officials, veterans service organizations,
and area veterans and their families attended the ceremony. In addition to
Principi, other speakers included Michigan Senators Carl Levin and Debbie
Stabenow and Representatives Joe Knollenberg, Dale Kildee, and Mike Rogers.

Great Lakes National Cemetery is in Oakland County, approximately 45
miles northwest of Detroit. When the cemetery becomes operational in
mid-2005, it will serve nearly 460,000 veterans and their families who live
within 75 miles of the site.

The new cemetery will also include an administration and maintenance
complex, two committal service shelters, public information center with
electronic gravesite locator and public restrooms, cemetery entrance area,
flag assembly area, memorial walkway and donations area, and infrastructure
elements including roadways, landscaping, utilities and irrigation.

Veterans with a discharge other than dishonorable, their spouses and
dependent children are eligible for burial in a national cemetery. Other
burial benefits for eligible veterans include a burial flag, a Presidential
Memorial Certificate and a government headstone or marker - even if they are
not buried in a national cemetery.

VA, in the midst of its largest land expansion since the Civil War,
operates 120 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico, 33 soldiers'
lots and monument sites. VA's national cemeteries have more than 14,200
acres of land. More than 2.5 million Americans, including veterans of every
war and conflict -- from the Revolutionary War to the current war in Iraq --
are buried in VA's national cemeteries.

VA also provides grants to states through its State Cemetery Grants
Program to build new or expand existing state cemeteries that complement
national cemeteries.

Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national
cemetery offices, from the VA Web site on the Internet athttp://www.cem.va.gov <http://www.cem.va.gov/> or by calling VA regional
offices toll-free at 1-800-827-1000. Information about the Great Lakes
National Cemetery is available at 810-695-2007.
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